Yemen govt, rebels lash out as peace talks set to open

Yemen’s government and rebels doubled down on their rival demands on Thursday, just moments before hard-won peace talks were due to open in Sweden under the auspices of the United Nations.

A top Huthi rebel official threatened on Thursday to bar UN planes from using the Yemeni capital’s airport unless peace talks in Sweden lead to its full reopening.

“If the Yemeni capital’s airport is not opened to the Yemeni people in the peace talks in Sweden, I call on the (rebel) political council and government to close the airport for all planes,” Mohammed Ali al-Huthi tweeted.

The Yemeni government hit back, demanding the rebels withdraw from the flashpoint port city of Hodeida.

The Sweden talks mark the first attempt in two years to broker an end to the Yemen conflict, which has killed at least 10,000 people since 2015 and triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Some 14 million people are at imminent risk of starvation in Yemen, according to UN estimates, as a Saudi-led military coalition continues to battle the country’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.